Work underway to improve Fargo-area electric service

At Xcel Energy, we have high standards when it comes to how we serve our customers. Our job is to ensure you have the energy you need to power your homes and businesses and keep your families safe and comfortable. Recently, we’ve fallen short of those standards.

We recognize that these power outages have been a major inconvenience for customers. Overall, our system reliability ranks among the best in the country. But when your power goes out, we know that statistics don’t matter. That is why we’re doing all we can to improve our reliability and these recent outages motivate us to strengthen our efforts.

Right now crews are replacing underground cables that have been the source of several recent outages and are using infrared technology to identify potential problem spots on above-ground lines. In addition, we’ve taken a proactive approach and installed new, automated technology on several of our critical main circuits to quickly re-route power when there is a fault, which limits the number of customers who are affected. We’ve also accelerated our tree-trimming schedule in North Dakota to minimize damage to power lines from tree branches.

At Xcel Energy we take seriously our commitment to improving reliability and service in North Dakota and we continually invest in our power grid to ensure we can deliver on this commitment. The recent improvements mentioned above are in addition to nearly $5 million we’ve invested in electric cable and pole replacement in North Dakota from 2013 – 2015.

We’ve been serving residents and businesses in Fargo for more than 100 years. We’re proud to be a part of this community, and we stand by our record of service. But we recognize that we must do better. Thank you to all of our customers for your patience and understanding as we’ve worked through these outages, and as we make the repairs and improvements needed to deliver the reliable energy that you need to power your daily lives.